


Boss of the Year, Not

by Spikedluv



Category: Eureka
Genre: First Time, Humor, M/M, Romance, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-02
Updated: 2011-02-02
Packaged: 2017-10-15 07:45:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/158617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of Nathan’s decisions comes back to bite him and Jack rides to the rescue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Boss of the Year, Not

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been re-watching season one to make sure I had everything straight in my head for a fic I was writing, and then I saw this week’s Flashpoint ep and thought, hmm, if there was an employer people might want to take hostage and hold at gunpoint, it would be Nathan, and this fic jumped to the head of the line. I tried to structure it like an episode, so I hope that worked.
> 
> Written: August 9, 2008

Harold Elkins drove the speed limit as he crossed the Eureka town line, his hands at ten and two on the steering wheel. He checked his mirrors and stopped on yellow at the single light in town, which was new since he’d last been there. He was a good driver -- careful, defensive -- but he was a _great_ physicist. A visionary, even, and Nathan Stark was a fool for not being able to see that.

Harold pulled in to a parking spot a block down from Café Diem after waiting patiently with his blinker on for the car idling in that spot to pull out. He turned off the ignition and checked his watch. Two minutes later, like clockwork, Nathan Stark drove up to Café Diem in his BMW and went in for his morning shot of Vinspresso.

Harold got out of his car and locked it before following Nathan into Café Diem.

*~*~*

  
Nathan stood with his hands folded in front of him, next in line to be waited on. His stillness might have been mistaken for patience, but Nathan wasn’t one to waste a minute, so his mind was already occupied with the myriad of things he had to get done that day, making mental lists and triple-checking them. He’d just stepped up to the counter to place his order when there was a commotion behind him.

Turning, Nathan saw Harold Elkins burst into the middle of Café Diem, pull a gun out of his pocket and fire it towards the ceiling, and yell, “Everyone out!”

There was a moment of frozen silence, and then everyone screamed and rushed towards the door. Elkins stood his ground as the morning crowd stampeded around him like water flowing around a rock. His eyes caught Nathan’s and held before Nathan could move. “Not you,” he said, pointing the gun at Nathan.

“Dr. Stark?” Vince’s voice cracked, and Nathan heard the counter creak under the grip of his fingers.

“Get out of here, Vince,” Nathan said, then added softly, “And much as I hate to say it, call Carter.”

*~*~*

  
Jack had just reached his desk and set down his much anticipated cup of the infamous Vinspresso, and was in the process of removing his jacket when he heard the gunshot. “What the hell?” He looked around the office as if it might offer up the answer, then tugged his jacket back into place as he raced out of the Sheriff’s office to see what was up. Jo was right behind him, pausing just long enough to grab her vest.

The sight that greeted them -- people rushing out of Café Diem in a panicked horde -- brought them up short.

“Another one of Vince’s culinary experiments gone wrong?” Jo asked as they surveyed the street.

“I don’t know,” Jack said. “I don’t see smoke.”

Jo pointed across the street. “Here comes Vince.”

“Let’s ask him,” Jack said, and headed across the street.

Vince sped through the dispersing crowd as fast as he could, moving straight for Jack and Jo and meeting them in the middle of Main Street. His expression was one of fear, rather than chagrined disappointment.

“This can’t be good,” Jack said.

Vince pointed back at the café and, wheezing, said, “Harold . . . Nathan . . . gun.”

Jo set her hand on Vince’s shoulder. “Vince, slow down. Just breathe. That’s it. Now tell us what happened.”

“Harold Elkins is holding Dr. Stark at gunpoint,” Vince finally got out, direct and to the point, without any of his usual embellishments.

Jack’s stomach twisted, but all he said was, “Who’s Harold Elkins?”

“Physicist,” Jo said. “Used to work at GD. Stark fired him a couple weeks before he took the job in D.C.”

Jack scratched the back of his head. “Crap, a disgruntled employee.” He looked at Jo. “Though, to be honest, given Nathan’s people skills, I’m surprised that something like this hasn’t happened before.”

Jack sighed. “Okay, so, negotiating with a hostage-taker, great. This job just keeps getting better and better,” Jack said. He patted his pocket. “I need to talk to this guy.”

“Or we could lob in a couple smoke bombs and storm the place,” Jo suggested eagerly.

“He might shoot the hostage,” Jack said. He paused, cell phone halfway out of his pocket, and thought about that, then shook his head. “As much as I might like to, let’s try the non-lethal way first.”

Jo shrugged, but she couldn’t hide her disappointment. “You’re the Sheriff.”

“Yeah,” Jack drawled. He pressed the speed dial for Café Diem and placed the phone to his ear.

It rang, and rang.

*~*~*

  
“That’s probably for you,” Nathan said when the phone continued to ring.

“I don’t want to talk to anyone,” Elkins said, his voice steady, his gun hand never wavering.

“If you don’t answer they’re gonna get nervous out there, and you know how Jo is.”

“Sheriff Cobb’ll keep her under control.”

“Yeah, about that,” Nathan said, “Cobb’s not the Sheriff anymore.”

Elkins jammed the gun towards him. “Get him fired, too, so you could bring in one of your yes men?” he charged.

Nathan couldn’t hold back the bark of laughter. “Trust me, I don’t like the new sheriff any more than you like me.”

“Really? I’m surprised, Stark,” Elkins said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I thought you made friends wherever you went.”

“It’s not my job to make friends,” Nathan said, standing straight with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Truer words were never spoken,” Elkins said. “You know, maybe I will talk to him, since we have so much in common.” Elkins picked up the now silent receiver. “What’s his number?”

*~*~*

  
Jack nearly dropped his phone when it rang, thankfully cutting off Jo’s list of reasons why a frontal assault was their best option. He checked the number on the screen, then pushed down the fear he felt on Nathan’s behalf before answering. “Dr. Elkins, I presume?”

“It is, Sheriff. Tell me,” Elkins said, “what happened to Sheriff Cobb?”

“Ah, well, Sheriff Cobb had a bit of an accident and had to retire,” Jack said. “If it makes you feel any better, he recommended me as his replacement,” he added, trying to gain Elkin’s trust.

“Did Nathan Stark have anything to do with Sheriff Cobb retiring?”

“As much as I’d like to blame Nathan for everything that goes wrong in Eureka, no, not as far as I’m aware. Nathan wasn’t even in Eureka at the time.”

“Disappointing,” Elkins said, “but fortunate for Stark. I liked Sheriff Cobb.”

“Everyone seems to have liked Sheriff Cobb. Hey, why don’t you come on out of there so we can talk about Sheriff Cobb, maybe over the Vinspresso that’s currently cooling on my desk?”

“It’s been nice speaking with you, Sheriff, but I don’t think so. I do wish that we could’ve had a chance to get to know one another better, though. I understand we have something in common.”

“What would that be?” Jack asked, trying to keep Elkins on the phone.

“Our dear friend Nathan Stark,” Elkins said.

“Ah, yes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Jack said. “Why don’t we talk about that . . . .”

“Goodbye, Sheriff,” Elkins said.

“Wait!” Jack called. “Don’t hang up yet, Harold -- I can call you Harold, right? And you can call me Jack. -- you haven’t told me what you want.”

“I have what I want,” Elkins said, and then disconnected.

Jack stared at the phone, then flipped it shut and shoved it back into his pocket. “Crap.” Sweat broke out between his shoulder blades as he looked over at the front door to Café Diem. “I need to get in there.”

Before Jo could get too excited, Jack added, “Alone.”

Jack unhooked his gun belt and handed it to Jo.

“What do you think you’re doing, Carter?” Jo hissed.

“Trying to keep Elkins from shooting Nathan,” Jack said. “If anyone’s gonna shoot Nathan, it’s gonna be me.”

*~*~*

  
Nathan leaned against the counter and watched Elkins pace and rant. The only thing that kept his eyes from crossing with boredom was the gun that Elkins kept aimed in Nathan’s direction. Given Elkins’ history, Nathan doubted that he was proficient with the weapon, but even an incompetent could get off a lucky shot, and this was a new suit.

Nathan glanced towards the front windows and caught sight of Carter taking off his jacket and handing it to Jo, who already had a gun belt hanging from her hand and a scowl on her face. Carter hitched up his pants and started towards the café.

Nathan stole a glance at the still ranting Elkins, then back towards the front of the café, where Carter had nearly reached the door.

“I hope you locked the front door,” Nathan said.

Elkins swung around, though he had the presence of mind to keep the gun trained on Nathan, which was really annoying. If Elkins had shown that much attention to detail when he’d worked for Global, Nathan might not have had to fire him.

Carter, hands raised, stood right outside the door.

“Who’s that?”

“That would be the new sheriff.”

“ _That’s_ the new sheriff?”

“Yeah,” Nathan said, “not that impressive, but you probably still shouldn’t shoot him.” When Elkins glared at him, Nathan added, “That would leave Jo in charge.”

“Shut up,” Elkins told Nathan. “Go away!” he yelled to Carter.

“I just want to talk, Dr. Elkins,” Carter called back. “I’m unarmed.” Carter turned in a full circle so that Elkins could see that he was in fact unarmed. “I’m coming in.”

Even as Elkins yelled, “No, don’t come in!” Carter opened the door and stepped into the café.

“I just want to talk,” Carter repeated, keeping his arms raised, his hands away from his body.

“No offense, Sheriff, but I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“You couldn’t shut up just a few minutes ago,” Nathan muttered.

“Shut up, Nathan,” Carter said at the same time Elkins said, “Shut up, Stark.”

The two men shared a commiserating look and Nathan rolled his eyes. “My hero,” he mocked.

“Trust me,” Carter said, “the only reason I don’t want Dr. Elkins here to shoot you is because I’m reserving that pleasure for myself.”

“If you’re staying, make yourself useful,” Elkins told Carter, “and keep him quiet.”

Carter’s eyebrows went up. “You’ve met Nathan Stark, right?”

“You’re such a comedian, Carter.”

“Seriously,” Elkins said, “tie him up and gag him or I may have to shoot him in self-defense.”

Carter laughed. “Really?” He stopped just short of clapping Elkins on the back. “I’m almost glad that you interrupted my morning shot of Vinspresso,” Carter said, then looked at Nathan and smiled.

“Don’t even think about it, Carter,” Nathan warned.

Carter held his hands up, palms out in a gesture of defeat. “I’m just doing what the man with the gun told me to.”

*~*~*

  
Allison rushed up to Jo. “Jo, I heard that Dr. Elkins is holding Nathan hostage.”

“That was fast, even for the Eureka grapevine,” Jo said, not taking her eyes off the front windows of the café.

“Where’s Carter?”

Jo tilted her chin. “In there.”

Allison looked towards the café, then towards the belt and jacket Jo was holding. She reached out and touched the belt. “Without his gun?”

“He’s negotiating with Dr. Elkins.”

“By making himself a hostage?”

Jo’s only answer was the tick in her jaw.

Just then the Eureka ambulance pulled up, and Allison gave Jo a worried look.

“Just in case,” Jo said. “I’m sure Carter knows what he’s doing.”

*~*~*

  
Jack directed Nathan to a seat back to the side of the bar, a position that kept the gun from being aimed at the street, and which would be more defensible if Elkins started shooting. Once Nathan was seated, Jack looked around for something he could use as a restraint.

“Don’t you have handcuffs?” Elkins asked.

“No,” Jack said, “I left them out there with my gun.”

His eyes alighted on Nathan’s tie, and Nathan quickly followed his train of thought.

“That’s a three hundred dollar tie,” Nathan growled as Jack ran the tie through his fingers.

Jack reached for the knot and started untying it, his knuckles brushing Nathan’s chest through the dress shirt. He felt his skin grow warm, and to cover, he said, “Why do you insist on wearing expensive suits when you work at a place where people routinely blow shit up?”

“Not routinely,” Nathan argued.

Despite the situation they were in, Jack felt himself grow hard as he dragged the tie from around Nathan’s neck in a motion that was familiar, if only in his fantasies. Once it was free he squatted behind the chair and pulled Nathan’s arms back, wrapped the tie around his wrists and created a knot that looked good, but that Nathan could undo with a twist of his wrist.

Since Elkins couldn’t see him from this angle, Jack said softly, “Do not pull on the tie until you need to.” As he stood, Jack said, “Even in my wildest dreams I never imagined this.”

Nathan raised his eyebrows. “You dream of tying me up, Carter?”

“God, would you just gag him already?” Elkins said.

“Happy to,” Jack said, fighting back the flush. He grabbed a cloth napkin off the table and waited a beat before shoving the corner into Nathan’s mouth.

“So, Harold,” Jack said, turning his back to Nathan, “tell me what brings you back to Eureka.”

*~*~*

  
Elkins continued to pace the café, complaining about Nathan firing him (“For no good reason, except that he was jealous of my work!”) and his transfer to Area 51 (“My genius is wasted there!”).

“Wait, so are there really aliens being held at Area 51?”

Both Elkins and Nathan ignored him, not that Nathan could have done anything else. Carter stood in front of him, and no matter where Elkins paced to, Carter remained between them, drawing Elkins’ attention and doing his best to make Elkins forget that Nathan was even there. Nathan tried to be grateful, but really, he was bored stiff. And missing some very important meetings. He hoped that someone had called Fargo so he could reschedule them.

The only thing that made it bearable was the sight he was treated to. The sheriff’s uniform wasn’t the most flattering, but still, Carter filled it out well.

Finally Carter said, “Look, Harold, I get it, okay? Sure Nathan is brilliant, and he can be charming when he wants to be, but he’s an arrogant, egotistical, pompous _jerk_!”

“Hey!” Nathan tried to protest around the gag. Carter shushed him with a wave of his hand.

“I get that, all right? But what do you _want_ , Harold?”

There was a long pause during which Nathan tensed up, ready to pull on the tie when the shooting started, and then Elkins finally said, “I want him to be as miserable as I am.”

The gag was the only thing that kept Nathan from shouting that he was pretty miserable right now.

“And I want him to know what a mistake he made when he fired me, because I have ideas, brilliant ideas!”

What happened next was like a scene out of _The Three Stooges_. Elkins reached into his pocket and pulled out a notebook. The gun accidentally went off and Elkins shot himself in the foot. Elkins screamed in pain and flailed with his gun hand. He smacked Carter, who had moved in to subdue him, in the head with the gun. Carter went down like a rock, smashing his head on the floor.

Nathan pulled on the tie and dragged the gag from his mouth as he stood. He easily took down the injured Elkins and was tying his wrists behind his back when Jo burst in.

She looked disappointed that there wasn’t anyone to shoot, but quickly switched gears when Nathan shouted, “We need an ambulance!”

Nathan left Elkins and moved over to Carter’s side. He patted Carter’s cheek. “Carter. Carter. Jack.”

Jack moaned and his eyelids fluttered. Nathan waited impatiently for him to regain consciousness.

Jack reached out blindly and his hand fell on the side of Nathan’s face. He dragged it down over Nathan’s jaw. Jack’s eyes fluttered open and he looked at Nathan with unfocused eyes. “Nathan?”

Before Nathan could answer, Jack slid his hand behind Nathan’s head and pulled him down, pressed their lips together.

Nathan froze, then thought, in for a penny, in for a pound. He hadn’t gotten where he was without taking a few risks along the way. Nathan kissed Jack back, parted his lips and invited Jack to deepen the kiss, which Jack eagerly did.

When they pulled apart, Jack said, “Ow, my head. Did he _shoot_ me?”

“No,” Nathan said, “he accidentally hit you with the gun, and then you hit your head when you fell.”

“Oh, okay. Good,” Jack said, and then fell unconscious again.

Only then did Nathan realize that they were no longer alone. He stepped back while the EMTs checked Jack’s vital signs and then loaded him onto a gurney and wheeled him out of the café. As Jo followed, leading a hobbling Elkins out of the café, Nathan called, “I want my tie back!”

He leaned down and picked up the notebook that Elkins had dropped, stuffed it into his pocket just before Allison came over to him and said, “Nathan, are you all right?”

Nathan just looked at her, not because he was trying to be, as Jack had put it, arrogant, but because he really didn’t know.

*~*~*

  
Jack opened his eyes to see Allison standing beside his bed and Nathan sitting in the lone chair, looking a bit haggard. “Wow, did I almost die, or something?”

“We were worried about you, Carter,” Allison said. “You’ve been unconscious for several hours.”

“Really?” Jack looked at Nathan, who sat back in his chair as if it were a throne. “Even Nathan?”

And then it came back to him. The hostage situation, the gun going off . . . him kissing Nathan. “Oh, oh! I am so calling head injury,” Jack said, pointing at Nathan.

Nathan’s expression didn’t change as he pushed himself out of the chair. “I’m glad you’re awake, Carter. Thank you for saving my life, however incompetently it was pulled off.”

“Uh, you’re welcome, I think. Just doing my job,” Jack said, a little surprised by the thank you, even with the qualifer, and watched Nathan walk out of the cubicle. When Nathan was gone, Jack glanced back at Allison, whose arms were folded across her chest, an expression of disappointment on her face. “What?”

Allison shrugged. “I just think that was cowardly, that’s all.”

“Cowardly? What are you talking about?”

“You can claim head injury if you want, but Nathan doesn’t have an excuse to hide behind.”

“What are you . . . ? Oh.” It was only then that Jack remembered that Nathan had kissed him back. “Oh, well that’s . . . .”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘interesting’.”

“No,” Jack said, “I’m pretty sure that ‘weird’ is the word I was looking for.”

*~*~*

  
“What do you want, Carter?” Nathan said without looking away from the pad he held in his hands. He marked the changes that he wanted and sent the information to Fargo.

“Uh, well, I just wanted to see how you were doing, after the whole hostage thing,” Jack said.

Nathan swivelled his chair around and looked at Jack, who looked very uncomfortable, if totally hot in the brown t-shirt that stretched across his chest. To stem that train of thought, Nathan said, “You’re a terrible liar.”

“Yeah, so I’ve been told.” Jack wrinkled the uniform shirt he held in his hand. “Okay, listen, I wasn’t being completely honest back there.” He gestured off into some distant galaxy. “When I said that it was all the head injury.”

Through sheer force of will Nathan managed to remain silent.

“I mean, yeah, sure, I probably would never have kissed you if I had been, you know, in my right mind, but I would have regretted it.” Jack shook his head. “I mean, the head injury made me _act_ on it, but it didn’t make me _want_ . . . . No, what I mean is . . . .”

“Are you trying to tell me that you wanted to kiss me before the head injury?” Nathan said.

“Uh, well, that depends,” Jack said.

“On what?”

“On why you kissed me back.”

“Remember that, do you?”

“Not right off,” Jack admitted. He gestured towards his head. “In fact, I’m still not one hundred percent sure it actually happened. Except, apparently, there were witnesses. And someone might have had a camera. And there might already be pictures plastered all over the intranet . . . .”

Nathan rose from the chair behind his desk and walked around it while Jack babbled about witnesses and pictures. It wasn’t until Nathan stood right in front of him that Jack noticed him.

“Um, hi . . . there.”

“You’ve been a pain in my ass since the day we met, Carter.”

“Ditto.”

Nathan sat on the corner of his desk, one foot planted on the floor, the other swinging. He reached out and slipped his finger beneath Jack’s waistband and tugged him closer. “No gun belt?”

“Jo won’t give it back to me,” Jack complained, his voice a little shaky as he made a point of ignoring Nathan’s finger. “I told her that being released meant that I was okay, but Allison backed her up and suggested I needed some time to recuperate before I went back to work. She said that, uh, head wounds can be tricky and I might need someone to make sure I don’t fall into a coma. Or, you know, something like that, I wasn’t really listening.”

“Uh huh. Why don’t we try it again without the head wound.”

“The kiss?”

“The kiss.”

Jack gestured towards his head. “You know, technically, I still have a head wound.”

“Carter.”

“Yeah, um, okay,” Jack said, his breath catching as his hip brushed the inside of Nathan’s thigh.

After a long moment where they just stared at each other, Nathan said, “As I recall, you kissed me.”

“You kissed me back,” Jack said.

“Mmm hmm, that’s the idea,” Nathan said, but it was cut off by Jack finally, _finally_ kissing him.

As promised, Nathan kissed him back, and when Jack dropped the shirt so he could get both hands on Nathan, Nathan broke the kiss just long enough to command the windows opaque.

“I didn’t know they did that,” Jack said.

“A feature I had installed after one particularly graphic dream where I fucked you against the windows as the employees arrived one morning,” Nathan said, somehow managing to keep his voice even despite the fact that it had become one of his favorite fantasies.

“Wow, really?” Jack shook his head. “I should have known you’d have a public sex kink.”

Nathan just smiled. “Wanna try it some time?”

“No-o-o-o,” Jack said, but they could both tell he was lying.

*~*~*

  
 _One Week Later_

Jack burst into Nathan’s office, ignoring the fact that he was in the middle of a conference call. “Are you _kidding_ me?”

“Excuse me for just one moment, please,” Nathan said to the faces on the screen, not even bothering to look at Jack, then pressed a button that brought up the Cisco logo. He swivelled his chair around. “What is it this time, Carter?”

“Elkins? Seriously?”

“I looked over some of his ideas,” Nathan said, loving the way Jack’s face got all twisted up when he was pissed. “He was right, they are brilliant.”

“He held you hostage! He wanted to shoot you!”

“He wanted me to hear his ideas,” Nathan argued, his voice calm.

“He could have shot _me_ ,” Jack said.

“He shot _himself_ , Carter. Actually, he’s always been more of a danger to himself than anyone else,” Nathan mused.

“I’m not dropping the charges.”

“You know I’ll just call DARPA, who’ll go up the chain of command within the DOD, who’ll have a talk with the Feds, and he’ll be working here within the week.”

“Bring it on, pal,” Jack said, waggling his fingers in a manner that looked vaguely sexual. He stormed towards the elevator, then caught himself and turned back. “Be to the house by seven, Zoe’s making Eggplant Parmesan. Well, she’s having SARAH teach her how to make Eggplant Parmesan, so no promises on how good it’ll be.”

“I love Eggplant Parmesan.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard.”

“How’d she know?”

“I think she’s been collaborating with Allison.”

“Really? Interesting.”

“Uh, yeah, Zoe said something about making sure you stick around since I’m a lot easier to deal with when I’m getting some. Okay, not quite true, that’s _exactly_ what she said, can you believe it? I mean, she’s fifteen, for god’s sake!”

Nathan didn’t even bother trying to keep a straight face. “Is that right?”

“Oh, shut up!” Jack stormed into the elevator and punched the button. “And wipe that smile off your face. I’m not saving you any if you’re late,” Jack added just before the doors shut.

Nathan stood and walked over to the window, watched as Jack headed out of the facility. Only when Jack was gone did Nathan return to his desk and make the change to his calendar. He turned back to his conference call, managing just barely to wipe the smile off his face before he brought the screen back up.

The End


End file.
